Music Is My Radar
by Nat1
Summary: August 1987 and once again, none of the Winchester’s lives will never be the same again.


A/N: Title is from a Blur Song, I sacrificed myself to my iPod, my cassette collection and the gods of Wikipedia for this fic. Its reasonably well researched, though much of it just stems from me (I'm fabulous like that). As much as music is a part of SN, I'm sure there are only a few of you out there who flail about each and every song or band thats played or mentioned in the show. Such is the case that I'm not going to be upset if you read the fic, end up completely confused and leave a review only to let me know that I put apostrophes and commas in the wrong spot.

Enjoy!

As long as John has owned the Impala it has signified freedom and the fact that John was the master of his own destiny. The Impala has been crooning to him and his family through its old speakers since he purchased it fresh out of school and freshly enlisted in the Marines. First it was through the radio then a new 8-track and shortly after he married Mary, a cassette deck. It has known the Beatles, the Stones, the Bee Gees, The Moody Blues, Marianne Faithfull, The Beach Boys, Dusty Springfield and Cat Stevens among others.

August 1987 and once again, none of the Winchester's lives will never be the same again.

Dean is eight years old, sitting up past midnight waiting for his father to come home, watching MTV when an epiphany of sound hits him. Turns out the song is 'Welcome to the Jungle' and the band is Guns N' Roses. 'Appetite for Destruction' is _appropriated_ somewhere around Tulsa three months later and it seems like the only thing John says to Dean these days is 'turn that shit off!' and Dean actually listens and turns it off. It's usually 10 to 15 minutes later before it comes back on, screaming from the nearest boom box. John swears to god that Axl Rose is really a siren for all that his voice has Dean in thrall and they need to cut off his hair and before drowning him.

John's temper flares on more than one occasion and he has to close his eyes and count to 100 so he doesn't follow through with threats to ban music in the Impala. He knows he's taken so much from his boys already and that they are good kids, so surely for all the respect they show him, he can respect their need for the comfort of music. Though really, what they might find comforting in the screaming of what Dean considers music he's not entirely sure. Dean picks up a habit of nodding his head along with the beat and Sammy's at the age where he mimics everything Dean does, and John's heart beats double time when he remembers Mary used to do exactly the same thing. Cassette tapes quickly become cooler than being able to shoot a bigger gauge shot gun, Dean's Walkman became his most treasured possession, and the only thing that saves Sammy is John's lightning fast reflexes and a harsh lecture about looking after his things when Dean found a soggy cracker in it.

1988 saw Dean developing an ear for older music… John thought he'd be glad, thinking that maybe they'd finally have something in common and would stop snipping at each other over the rules of the Impala concerning who got control of the car stereo. Then Dean played 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' and John despaired. At least Ozzy Osbourne's wailing didn't wake up Sammy in the back seat.

John almost liked the Motorhead album 'Ace of Spades', until Dean played it to death during the ride from Spokane down to Fort Lauderdale in July.

1989 and Dean is ten years old watching MTV again when the film clip for 'One' by Metallica is shown. If John thought Dean was a generally easygoing kid, he was about to be brought up short. Ten minutes of Dean's life flash by in a haze of heavy black and white guitar riffs, and suddenly Dean has a fashion sense.

Dean plays hooky from school three days in a row and spends his time _appropriating_ black t-shirts with band logos on them. Somehow '…And Justice For All' makes it into the cassette tape rotation later that week.

1990 and Dean over hears an argument about Bon Scott and Brian Johnson. The first AC/DC album _acquired_ is 'Razor's Edge'. It's pretty damn good. Then Dean discovers 'Highway to Hell' and 'Back in Black' and there's no contest. Brian Johnson is good enough, but Bon Scott? Bon Scott is GOD. John overhears him telling Sammy that there aren't really things he'd rather do than hunt with them both, but surely there has to be monsters they can kill in Australia while he made a pilgrimage to Bon Scott's grave in Fremantle.

1991 and twelve year old Dean's sarcastic smart assed nature is launched on his family and everyone else in the world in the form of Slayer, usually at the most inappropriate times imaginable. Sitting with his father in yet another conference with yet another _concerned_ teacher, Dean starts to tap to the beat of 'Jesus Saves' and John has to physically restrain himself from kicking him. By the time Dean has zoned out completely and humming 'Die by the Sword' John is ready to kick him _and_ his teacher who's been droning on about Dean's 'lack of focus' and Dean's 'unrealised potential', her pointed looks and raised eyebrows in Dean's direction not withstanding her voice is so horribly monotonous that John finds himself tapping to the beat along with Dean's humming just too keep his eyes open.

John still wants to rip the tape out of the cassette of 'Reign in Blood' and threatens Dean with it each time he receives a call from that same shrew of a teacher.

1992 and Dean seems to be maturing. At least, he's looking at girls like any normal thirteen year old boy would and spending _far_ too much time in the bathroom and songs that relate to anything even mildly supernatural or sexual become Dean's summer soundtrack. Blue Oyster Cult becomes a favourite and '(Don't Fear) The Reaper' is played so often that John finds himself tracking a Werewolf through the savannah singing it to himself silently. And when Dean wants to sulk about the camping he has to endure every weekend, John can hear 'Fire of Unknown Origin' turned up too loud, distorting the sound on Dean's small tape player and prays that his batteries die sooner rather than later, because it feels like his heart is ripped from his chest in three directions when it all gets this bad.

1993 and Sam is finally making up his own mind about music that he likes instead of voting for anything Dean wants to listen too. Nirvana's 'Nevermind' enters the rotation and John could seriously shoot both his sons for their atrocious taste in music. Dean wins by default these days because John would rather listen to 'Stairway to Heaven' than 'Heart Shaped Box' any day. Nine Inch Nails album 'The Downward Spiral' lives in Dean's walkman, and all Dean wants to listen to is 'Closer' but he knows better than to play it where John can hear it. Dean has a brief month long flirtation with the Beatles and John feels the most relaxed driving since Mary died until he sees her so clearly in Sam as he sings along to 'Let It Be'. He's actually grateful when Dean loses interest and plays Van Morrison's 'Too Long in Exile' repetitively until Sammy has a tantrum and 'Nevermind' makes its way back into the cassette deck.

1994 and Dean watches the movie 'Full Metal Jacket' and develops a strange attraction to Nancy Sinatra that he just can't explain. Sam walks around humming 'These Boots Are Made For Walking' and whispering '_christo_' at Dean then cracking up and running away before his big brother can catch him. John watches them both carefully, just waiting to have a salute snapped at him with an eye rolling 'Sir, yes sir, Gunnery Sargent Hartman, sir!' but the worst that happens is Dean calls him Ermey.

1995 and sixteen year old Dean has seen every Kubrick film at least five times each and declares that 'A Clockwork Orange' is the most fucked up thing he's ever seen and still refuses to let Sammy watch it. He has the hottest girl in his class over to watch 'The Shining' with him one Friday night when John is out hunting with Caleb and all is going exactly as planned. She's curled up on the couch with him, her face buried in his neck, her fingers digging into his hands. Then when Jack Nicholson breaks through the door yelling '_Heres Johnny!_' Sammy suddenly comes running through the room screaming '_Redrum! Redrum!_' and Dean could kill him if he wasn't so busy trying to stop the girl from crying her pretty blue eyes out. This chick is such a drama queen and Dean is sure she's faking everything, cause she's curled up in a ball on his lap, _petting_ him through the sobbing and the tears, but her heart isn't racing like it would if she were really freaked out. Not that he minds of course, a hot chick on his lap? He can deal with the fake crying, especially when he knows all his concern over her means he's going to get laid later.

1996 and Dean's Kubrick obsession is over with and its back to arguing with Sam over who gets control of the tape deck in the Impala. And after Sam's merciless teasing regarding Nancy Sinatra, Dean only feels it right that everyone at their new school knows that No Doubt's 'Just A Girl' is Sam's favourite song. And Dean who had never been an advocate of their fathers rule that who ever drives picks the music is suddenly realising the potential of having a license and John as his ally. He's also realising that Sam's pathetic girly taste in music actually works for him when he has a girl in the car. He quickly gains a reputation as hot _and_ sensitive when the head cheerleader finds the Counting Crows 'August and Everything After' tape in the glove box.

1997 and Sam's discovery of Nine Inch Nails has Dean _acquiring_ a Walkman for him cause if he has to listen the 'Further Down the Spiral' once more he's going to strangle someone. Used to be Dean _liked_ Nine Inch Nails then they go and massacre their own music… 'Closer' used to be his song and now that Sam has decided that the remixes are cool, he never wants to hear Trent Reznor's voice again. Listening to older music is better than expected especially after Dean's graduation from high school was almost a non-event. He managed it and then broke into the school the night before the ceremony and nothing the administration staff can do the next morning will shut off the PA system when they turn it on and 'Another Brick in The Wall' starts blaring out all over the school.

1998 sees Sam waging a war of teenage angst on everyone and everything. His weapon of choice? The _freaking_ Dixie Chicks. By March Dean was fighting back with 'Van Halen III'. If John has to listen to The Offspring's 'Americana' album again he's going to crack and buy a new car and let his boys fight it out over who gets to drive the Impala. And why, _why_, had he thought Sam getting his license was a good idea? When Madonna's 'Ray of Light' is played for the first time, he pulls over the Impala and proceeds to throw out every cassette and CD he can find in the Impala. There's only so much a man can take. The peace and quiet last about an hour before Dean and Sam start quoting South Park at each other and John's temped to turn around and pick up what he'd just thrown out. Instead he finds a classic rock radio station that's stuck back in the 70's and feels his muscles relax as Cat Stevens sings about the moonshadow.

1999 When Sam lands the role of The Stage Manager in his schools production of 'Our Town', Sam's devotion to it out ranks any of the angst he's shown over the past year in regards to hunting. Dean slowly but surely replaces his favourite cassettes that were on the side of the road back near Tupelo, adding a few new ones to the collection. Sam's too occupied with school to realise that Dean now has a monopoly on the music in the car again which John is sure he should be grateful for, but it just gives him a hollow feeling in his chest instead.

2000 at twenty-one Dean's music taste has pretty much solidified and he doesn't show much interest in listening to new bands. He'll occasionally buy an old bands new album, but he couldn't really care less about this new alternative rock that Sam's developing a taste for. Sure, its not all terrible, there are a few bands and albums that all three can agree are, if not good, then tolerable. John's actually starting to side with Sam in the arguments over what gets played, preferring to listen to Coldplay over AC/DC's 'Stiff Upper Lip' though he could really do without listening to anything by Radiohead. John is at least glad that his boys aren't interested in rap music, he's heard that M&M guy on the radio and his music is just shit. Dean spends entirely too much time on Sam's computer bitching about things like Metallica suing people and why cant he just live in Australia where they get all the extra AC/DC tracks on the damn albums instead of having to spend forever downloading them?

2001 Dean is in complete denial that all of the music Sam wants to listen to these days is about going somewhere else. He bitches about Sam's taste in music, bitches about Newstead leaving Metallica, bitches about Santana selling out, bitches about Sam actually buying Sheryl Crow's cover of 'Sweet Child of Mine', bitches about what Axl Rose did to Guns N' Roses and waxes poetic about 'S&M' which he had steadfastly refused to listen to for the two years that it had been released. Arguments these days are less about what music is played in the Impala. John drives with one hand on the wheel and his jaw tense as Sam listens to his Discman in the back seat, eyes either in a book or staring into the distance out the window. Sam's left them by August and for the first time that either of them can recall, the only music they can hear is the sound of the Impala wheels singing along the long stretch of blacktop.

Three months later after swinging through Palo Alto, Dean slams 'Appetite for Destruction' into the cassette player and cranks up the sound on 'Welcome to the Jungle' as he grins across the bench seat at an eye rolling John. Yes, it's time, John is going to cave and buy himself a truck. A truck where he can play his Beatles and Stones and not be distracted by the ghosted sounds of Mary singing to Dusty Springfield, no memories of his boys arguing over who gets to pick the music this time. John is about to become a master of his own destiny once again, or at least, a master of his own music again.

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